


Honor Among Puppets

by orphan_account



Category: Blood Dolls, Puppet Master - Fandom
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, finish it if you want to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2017-12-21 16:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/902678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After McGrew's death, the puppets try to find their way back to the Bodega Bay Inn with the help of Jane and the Blood Dolls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've given up on finishing this story, so I'm abandoning and orphaning it. If you want to take it over and finish it, you have my blessing! I've added notes at the end describing what I had intended to do with it, but you can do whatever you'd like.
> 
> For the purposes of this story, I'm considering this to be the chronological order of the movies: Retro, PM3, opening of PM1, PM9, PM10, rest of PM1, PM2, Curse, PM4, PM5, Legacy, PM vs. Demonic Toys.  I know there are some anachronisms when I arrange it this way (Rick's outdated computer, anyone?), but it's the best I could do in trying to tie these movies together.  This story takes place between _Curse of the Puppet Master_ and _Puppet Master 4._
> 
> The story also features some of the characters from the Full Moon movie _Blood Dolls_ , but it shouldn't be too confusing if you haven't seen it.  All that matters is that it had living dolls in it.  (If you _have_ seen _Blood Dolls_ , this story is based on the first ending.)

_"Take a look at Blade over there.  He never tires, never hungers, knows no fear, tells no lies, feels no pain, has no secrets.  And what is man except a being at war with himself?  But not Blade.  He has no hidden motives, no secret self.  He's purely and perfectly what he is."_

\--

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

If Blade could have frowned, he would have.  As it was, his white face kept its usual skull's grin, bullet eyes fixed on the. . . the thing that was supposed to be perfection.  The ultimate puppet.

Blade had been fooled.  They all had, all the puppets along with the man who could have been the next  Puppet Master.  All that talent, all that skill. . . wasted.  It made Blade sick.  The puppets knew what Robert was-- well, had been-- capable of; Pinhead, with his new joints, knew better than anyone else.  But McGrew was destroying their whispered hope that they had found their new Master.

As Blade watched, green tendrils of electricity arced from the Robert's body to the thing he had carved.  Blade had thought it would be a humanoid puppet like himself and the others, but no.  It was a machine, tank-like, proving that McGrew thought no more of the would-be Puppet Master than those who called him by that repulsive nickname.  The new puppet didn't even have a face, just a flat screen which now showed emotionless human features.

A soft moan caught Blade's attention, and he turned to his companions, who were watching as well.  Six-Shooter and Tunneler, like Blade, could show no expression, but Leech Woman's pretty face was sad as she looked up at Tank.  Was whatever remained of Ilsa Toulon sorrowful at the thwarted love?

And then. . . there was Jester.  His head had spun to its horrified face, his painted blue eyes wide.  He turned to look at Blade, one carved hand over his open mouth.  Blade had to look away.

And that man, McGrew, was laughing.  _Laughing._   He who dared to think that _he_ could have been the next Puppet Master.  He put human souls into puppets as Toulon had, true-- but oh, for such different reasons.  Blade could sense his companions' outrage at what had been done, but Pinhead was the most horrified.  Blade knew that his large friend loved Jane McGrew as much as he had loved Toulon, and that Jane's pain at finding what her father had done to Robert would break Pinhead's heart.

But it wasn't sorrow Blade felt;  it was fury.  McGrew had taken from Robert and his own daughter the one thing the puppets were forever denied: physical love.  Now, the two young ones could never touch or kiss, even if Tank could still feel any of Robert's love for Jane.  Worst of all, McGrew had done it knowingly, had sent his daughter away so that he could betray her.

Blade looked at Jester again.  The small puppet's face was now sad, with that heart-breaking frown that had so touched Toulon.  Toulon had loved Jester more than any of the other puppets.

And so did Blade.

He turned on McGrew, the points in his eyes shifting forward until they glinted in the green light emanating from Tank's screen.  He raised his knife and hook and stared up at the man who looked back down with growing horror on his face.

"No--" McGrew murmured, but Blade didn't even hear him.  The other puppets, feeling Blade's anger, looked at their leader with some surprise, but they didn't protest.  Six-Shooter drew his guns, and his little bandana rose to cover his mouth.  Pinhead cracked his knuckles, and Tunneler's drill spun to life.  As Blade moved forward, Leech Woman came behind him, her sweet mouth opening obscenely and a leech beginning to slip between her lips like a huge tongue.

Blade slashed into McGrew's leg, felling the man, then he led the advance with his companions closing in behind.  Blade let his rage consume him completely, and he leapt for McGrew's head, ignoring the old man's cries as he began to lash his blade back and forth.  Blade wished he could scream with every lunge:  _Don't you know what you've done?  Don't you know what died?_

Blood splattered Blade's usually immaculate coat, soaked into his silvery hair, and splashed across his white face.  He didn't even notice.  Leech Woman was covering the man's exposed flesh with leeches as Six-Shooter fired tiny bullets into his legs.  Tunneler plunged his head into McGrew's side, and Jester pricked him with his own tiny knife.  Then, finally, Pinhead's large hands found a metal bar and he brought it down over McGrew's skull, rendering him unconscious.

The puppets backed away, observing their work.  And yet, what good did it really do?  Tank was still there, the features on his monitor still impassive.  The puppets looked at one another, and Pinhead awkwardly picked up a piece of rag and began wiping the blood from Tunneler's drill.  Six-Shooter shrugged all six shoulders and said "hehhh hehhh" a little sheepishly.  Leech Woman tried to smooth down her hair.

Blade stood apart from them all, staring at the unconscious man.  Then he felt a touch on his arm and turned to see Jester looking up at him, still with his sad face.  Blade looked back helplessly.  For the first time he could remember, he had let emotion take control of him, and it wasn't because of the betrayed young man or the girl who had loved him.  It was because of this single little puppet, weakest of them all.

Jester reached up slowly, and Blade realized he was clutching his own rag.  Blade didn't move as Jester touched his face with it shyly then started wiping off McGrew's blood.  Always the most vocal of the puppets, Jester made soft cooing noises as he gently stroked Blade's high cheekbone and the side of his face.  He dabbed helplessly at Blade's reddened hair then gave up, letting the rag drop.  It would take a real bath to clean the rest of the stains from Blade, and that would require a human's help.

Jester continued to look up at the larger puppet for a moment, then he turned away.  Appreciating his friend's effort, Blade reached his hook around Jester's narrow waist and pulled him back, putting his arms around the thin body as best he could.  Jester whimpered and almost collapsed against him, his little hands clutching the back of Blade's coat.  Blade, who had no hands and could not touch Jester without hurting him, bowed his head.

The other puppets looked away politely.  Pinhead put a hand on each of Tunneler's and Leech Woman's backs, and the three old friends stood quietly.  Six-Shooter whistled and looked at the ceiling.

There was nothing for them to do but wait for Jane to return.

\--

Jester finally lifted his head from Blade's shoulder and looked at the door fearfully.  He dreaded the moment Jane would return and see what her father had done to her beloved.  Like the rest of the puppets, he was fond of the human girl.  She was the only one who treated them with respect, the way Toulon had treated them.  Jester cast an anxious glance at Pinhead, who loved Jane best.  Poor Pinhead would be devastated. . . .

The puppets didn't have to wait long.  As the door flung open, Jester skittered away from Blade, for some reason embarrassed for the human girl to see him clinging to his friend.  However, Jane didn't even glance at the puppets gathered on the floor.  Instead, she stared down at her blood-covered father, who had by now regained consciousness.

"What have you done?" Jane cried.  And despite everything the puppets had done to him, McGrew looked up at her with a smile on his face.

"I did it!" he hissed, pointing at Tank.  Jane looked at the new puppet with mixed horror and tenderness. . . but Tank didn't acknowledge her.  The flat, dead eyes on his screen were focused on McGrew.

"No. . . ." the old man whispered as he realized that Tank too was about to turn on him.  The new puppet raised what Jester supposed was meant to be an arm-- a cannon attached to the side of his vehicle body.

"Robert, no!" Jane screamed.  Jester's face spun from sad to horrified as Tank zapped McGrew with his cannon.  Instead of shot, it fired a beam of power like the one that had trapped Robert in Tank's body.  The beam hit McGrew in the forehead, turning his eyes into glowing green spheres.  Jane was unable to turn her eyes from the sight of her dying father; her screams were barely muffled by her hands over her mouth.  Pinhead looked not at McGrew but at Jane, his one good eye fixed sadly on her face.  Leech Woman collapsed into Six-Shooter's numerous arms.  Jester looked at Blade and saw that the pale puppet's bullet eyes were extended, his white lips parted.

Finally, McGrew's body stopped twitching, and he collapsed, a bloody heap with eyes burned out of their sockets.  Jane collapsed as well, not hurt physically but shell-shocked.  She sank to her knees, then lay on her side, her hands over her pale face.  Her body hitched with unvoiced sobs, then she was still.  Pinhead went to her, feeling first for her pulse with one large hand before peering into her face.  He turned to the other puppets and grunted: Jane was unconscious.

Jester knew that something had to be done.  They had killed two policemen, and when those didn't report back, others would come looking for them.  God only knew what would become of the puppets then.  Still, the six friends could only stand there at first, looking at one another.  Jester cursed his weak brain, fuzzy from depravation of the serum.  He was supposed to be the smart one; at least, that was what Toulon had always told him.  But now Jester, the Puppet Master's favorite, couldn't think of a thing to do.

In the end, it was Pinhead of all puppets who set them into action.  The bulky puppet lumbered over to Jane and looked her over.  He gently rolled the girl onto her back, brushing her hair out of her face, and laying her hands across her stomach.  For a moment, Pinhead stroked her forehead tenderly, then he checked her pulse once more.  Satisfied that she would be all right, Pinhead looked at Blade and motioned a large hand towards the puppets' trunk, which McGrew had left in a corner after purchasing the puppets.

Blade's carved lips parted, then he nodded.  He turned to the others and gestured at their trunk then towards the door.  However, before they could start towards the trunk, the white-haired puppet stopped and looked up at Tank.   The new puppet's face remained impassive.

Blade looked over at Jester and raised both his knife and hook hands.  _Should we bring him with us?_ he was asking.  Pleased that Blade was seeking his opinion, Jester nodded.

_He deserves a chance like the rest of us._

Blade turned back to Tank and, in a few motions, asked if he wanted to escape with the rest of the puppets.  Jester expected Tank to agree-- but the human eyes on Tank's screen moved back and forth.  No.

The new puppet backed up on his tiny treads and turned himself slightly to one side.  Then he rolled to the edge of the table. . . into a position where he could look down upon Jane.

 _Maybe there's something of Robert left after all,_ Jester wondered.  He himself could hardly remember what he had been like as the human named Hurd Kaiserman. . . but then Hurd had died a long, long time ago.  Robert's memories might still be fresh for Tank.

Blade watched Tank for a moment, then he turned back to Jester and lifted his arms again in a shrug.  Jester wondered if Blade could understand Tank's decision at all.

With Pinhead pushing from behind and Tunneler steering from the front, the original six puppets managed to get their wheeled trunk out the door of the shop and onto the driveway.  Blade nodded his approval then took one last look around the shop before turning away in disgust.  Jester understood: there was nothing the puppets could use from that place where they had been caged like animals.  As they left, Jester wondered how Jane would explain Robert's disappearance and the mutilated bodies of the police and her father-- but there was no way the puppets could help her.  Jester could only hope that leaving Tank behind wouldn't make things even worse for Jane.

It took a long while, but the little band of puppets finally made their way down the deserted road into the woods, to the spot where McGrew had disposed of his failed puppet.  Luckily, Jane had taken Pinhead to her special spot in the woods before, and she had recently told him about finding something burned there.  He had related this information to the others sadly.  They all knew that it wasn't just trash that had been set on fire, and they felt obligated to check the spot.

Leaving their trunk on the road, the six friends made their way towards the scorched cloth lying several yards away.  The rough ground was too much for Leech Woman's delicate legs, and Pinhead had to carry her.  The puppets made a semi-circle around the cloth, from under which moaning could be heard.  No one moved for a long time, then finally Blade reached out and caught the fabric on his hook, yanking it away quickly.

As it had done often that evening, Jester's face spun to horrified.  The monstrous, yet somehow pitiful, creature that had been Matt was now half-burned-- and horribly, he was still alive.  McGrew had lacked the courage even to make sure the rejected puppet was dead, and he had been lying in agony for weeks, helpless in the woods, unable to die.

"Jaaane!" the deformed puppet screeched, tossing his head and rolling his blue eyes.  One arm flopped grotesquely.

A sick feeling washed over Jester.  The Matt-thing turned his awful eyes on the six, and he blinked in recognition.  He, like Tank, should have been perfection, but  now he was only a gross parody of what the old puppets, the primitives, were.

Then the puppet looked straight at Jester.  To his horror, the thing reached toward Jester, raising himself on an arm scorched to the metal bone.  Jester felt as if he would die of horror if it said his name, immortal or not.

Jester scrambled away from the Matt-thing, but his little feet tripped on the rough ground, and he fell over.  The other five puppets stared at him, surprised by his fright.  Jester looked up at them, his eyes falling on Blade's face.  The pale puppet's expression was blank, but Jester imagined Blade's disappointment in him, a puppet frightened by one of his own.

"Jessss--" the Matt-thing squawked.  Jester screamed, scrambled to his feet, and ran.

He collapsed on the ground on the other side of the trunk, too far away to hear the warped thing's cries.  He did however hear the sound of bullets being fired: Six-Shooter had put Matt out of his agony.  Jester imagined Leech Woman folding the puppet's limbs into a semblance of peace, Tunneler digging a makeshift grave, and Pinhead lifting the twisted little body into the ground.  Blade scraping dirt over it.

Those five were brave; they wouldn't let one of their own suffer.  But Jester would.  He had run away.

His face sad, the little puppet dropped his head into his tiny hands, wishing he could weep.  If only Toulon were still alive, to cradle him and tell him he was the best, the prettiest of them all.  If only Blade would hold him once more.

But why would Blade, or anyone else, care for a coward like him?

\--

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Blade was the last of the puppets to leave the side of the tiny grave. Why did things always go so terribly wrong? Some of the others had known a time of happiness-- Jester, Tunneler, Pinhead, Six-Shooter. They had led painful human lives, true, but after they became puppets, they had been cared for and loved by Andre Toulon and Ilsa. Blade and Leech Woman were different; their creation had come too late for that.

What power could Blade and his friends have that made humans so greedy? Blade didn't understand, but he wished that power away with all his might. _I am sorry, my friend,_ he said silently to Matt's grave. _This happened to you because of us._

Finally, Blade turned away and trudged up the embankment to where the puppets' trunk sat on the road. All the others were waiting for him except for Jester; concerned, Blade looked around until he saw the smaller puppet about a foot away from the other side of the trunk, his thin shoulders slumped and his carved face sad. Better to just leave him alone, Blade decided. Once Jester got in a sulk, it was hard to cheer him up.

With half the puppets behind and half in front, the little group managed to maneuver the trunk down the gravel road at a slow pace. Blade knew they couldn't get very far, but he wanted them safely away from Matt's remains in case the spot should be found by the police. Blade knew from the color of the sky that dawn would be coming soon, and he decided that the puppets needed to get off of the dirt road before someone came along.

Six-Shooter spotted the perfect hiding place and alerted the others by pointing with three arms and hissing, "Heh heh heh." Blade followed the barrels of Six-Shooter's guns and saw the ground gently slope down away from the road, ending with a sharp drop to the ground below. The dark-cloaked puppet motioned for the others to stay behind him as he started down the slope alone. Then on a whim, Blade paused and looked back at Jester, cocking his hook at the smaller puppet. Jester looked at him in surprise, then hurried to catch up with him.

When they reached the drop-off, Blade stepped carefully to the edge and looked over. It was only a drop of about a yard, not much for a human, but a lot for a foot-high puppet. Still, the ground below was well-padded with fallen leaves. Blade knelt and bent his head down to find that the face of the "cliff" was composed of rocks, which formed a sort of shallow cave right beneath him and Jester. As he looked, his black fedora fell off and fluttered down to land far below him. Hissing angrily, Blade sat up, then looked at Jester, who was giggling at the sight of Blade's rumpled white hair. In spite of himself, Blade's mouth split in a grin. He was too relieved to see Jester smiling to care about his hat. Much, anyway.

Blade left Jester where he was and hurried back up the hill to get the others and their trunk. It took a lot of effort to get the trunk poised over the drop without it falling, but with Pinhead holding on to the handle, and Six-Shooter and Tunneler holding on to Pinhead, they were able to get it into position. When Blade was sure it was aligned with the cave below, he signaled for Pinhead to let go. The trunk crashed to the ground, and Pinhead fell backwards, crushing his friends. He got up quickly, patting them to make sure they were all right.

The hardier puppets made the drop themselves, leaving Blade to hand the more delicate ones down to Pinhead who stood below. Finally, Blade lowered himself over the edge using his hook and joined his friends behind the miniature cliff that shielded them from the road.

The puppets managed to push their trunk into the little cave so that it was more or less sheltered from the elements, then they all looked at Blade expectantly. Even though he was the youngest puppet in the little group, they also saw him as their leader. But at this point, even Blade was too tired to think. He knew they would need to be given more serum soon-- that was a job for Pinhead, the only one whose hands were large enough to manipulate the human-sized syringes. They would also have to arrange some sort of semi-permanent base in their new hiding place and take precautions against any other power-hungry humans who might come along.

Then would come the _real_ problems to solve. Problems like finding Torch and the Ilsa-Thing to whom they had foolishly given the life force of the psychic named Camille.  Problems like getting back to the safety of the Bodega Bay Inn. . . before they ran out of serum.  Blade's shoulders sank at the thought of these near-impossible tasks. The other puppets imitated his actions, knowing that if their leader was overwhelmed, things were nigh hopeless.

It surprised them all when Jester was the one to take charge. He peered behind their trunk, then gestured for the others. Pointing inside and cooing, he showed them that there was a large enough shelter in the cave for them to all lie down, although they would be a bit cramped. As Toulon had once said, even puppets need sleep, and Jester had apparently decided that they would never get anything done unless they rested. The other puppets gratefully made their way into their new home and arranged themselves, leaving space for Jester and Blade.

Blade looked down at his friend tenderly. Jester gave him a hopeful little look that clearly said, _See?  I can help too._ Blade was tempted to pull him close in another hug, but the thought of not having hands to touch the other's little body kept him from doing it. Instead, he laid the flat of his blade against Jester's back and gave him a playful push toward their resting place. Jester went in and curled up at Pinhead's feet; Blade followed him and lay facing the entrance, his blade and hook blocking it, trying to protect them as they slept.

\---

When Jester awoke, Blade was up as well, sitting just inside the entrance to the small cave.  After looking over the other four who still slept, Jester crawled over to sit next to his white-haired friend.  Blade turned to look at him and indicated that he was glad to see Jester by opening his mouth and making a "yah" noise.

It was late morning by then, on a dreary rainy day.  Jester was glad for the overhang of rock above them, which kept them and their trunk dry.  It was the only thing they had to be happy about though, he thought dismally as he stared out at the rain.  As nice as their shelter was, they couldn't stay there very long.  Jester unconsciously switched his face from its normal, slightly sneaky smile to its sad, pensive frown.

He jumped when Blade bumped his arm with his hook.  Jester looked at his friend, who reached up his blade arm and tapped Jester's frowning mouth with it.  Blade shook his head sternly, then traced a smile in the air with the knife's tip.  _Cheer up,_ he was saying.  Jester made a little giggling sound and spun his head around to show the face Blade wanted.  The white-haired puppet nodded in a satisfied way.

Jester looked thoughtfully at the blood-stained hair of his friend, then at a puddle that had formed where rain was washing off the overhang of rock above them.  He wanted to do something for Blade, to prove to both of them that he could be useful too.  Cooing softly, he reached up and plucked Blade's black hat from his head and set it aside.  Blade raised his hook to his head protectively, obviously feeling naked without his hat.  Jester, making reassuring noises, touched the other puppet's hair and pointed at the puddle and made a scrubbing motion.  Blade's mouth opened a little bit, then he nodded slowly.

Jester pushed at Blade's chest until the pale puppet reluctantly lay down on his back with his long white hair trailing into the puddle.  Chirping triumphantly, Jester plunged his small hands into the cold water and began rubbing his friend's hair between them, rinsing McGrew's blood from the fine white strands.  Blade withstood the treatment, only protesting when a drop of water hit him in the face.  He spluttered indignantly, then was still again.

Finally, Jester had washed all the blood away, and he pulled on Blade's arms, helping him to sit up once more.  Jester carefully wrung as much of the water from his friend's hair as he could before sitting back to admire his handiwork.  Blade looked a little bedraggled with his wet hair, but it was better than seeing him covered in blood.

Blade nodded brusquely in thanks.  It looked as if the wetness of his hair made him a little uncomfortable, but he smoothed it down with his hook and parted his carved lips in a smile.  Jester felt pleased with himself; at least he had helped a little.

Still, there was that nagging weakness in his limbs, brought about by his need for the serum.  Jester looked up at their trunk longingly; Blade followed his gaze and shut his mouth again in a thoughtful way.  Jester knew that the puppets would have to find some way back to Bodega Bay soon.  McGrew had never bothered to discover the contents of the serum, being too wrapped up in the race to build his own puppet.  By now, their once large supply was getting low, and they would need the stockpiled ingredients at the hotel to replenish it.

But Jester had no idea how they would make it back.  None of them even knew where they were, or in what direction their home lay.  Jester searched his brain for clues but came up with nothing, only a few painful memories.  After destroying the zombie Toulon-- who after all had been only a deranged memory of their former master-- they had transferred the life force of Camille into the human-sized puppet meant for the girl he had believed to be Ilsa reincarnated.  They had hoped to find a new caretaker in her-- and at first, that's what she seemed to be.  She even went so far as to retrieve the scorched remains of Leech Woman and the eviscerated Tunneler, and she helped them rebuild their fallen friends.

Unfortunately, the power-lust that infected so many who met the puppets overwhelmed the once-human woman.  To their horror, she had caged them all except Torch (who, having never been human, cared little what he was asked to do) and taken off for a children's home, where she intended to find victims to use in the production of the corrupted serum Zombie Toulon had invented.  The six original puppets could do little except to refuse to perform.  The Ilsa-Thing, as they had come to call their mistress, declared them useless, and they were sold in an auction to benefit the home.  They were bought and taken away by McGrew, only to be plunged into the darkest horrors they had ever experienced.

_And here we are,_ Jester thought, looking out at the rain once more.  Again, his face had slipped into its pensive expression, but this time Blade didn't try to get him to smile.  The white-haired puppet looked at his friend sadly and put his hooked arm around Jester's waist.  The little puppet started and looked at Blade in surprise.  Blade tapped the side of Jester's face with the flat of his blade, then pulled him a little closer.  A ray of happiness penetrated Jester's gloomy thoughts and he smiled once more.  He put his own little arms around Blade and hugged him tightly.  At least they were still together-- there was always that.

\---

Behind them, Six-Shooter sat up, stretching his six arms out widely.  The first thing he noticed was that he was _starving_.   He was about to nudge Pinhead awake so the large puppet could open the trunk and administer their serum, but he stopped when he noticed Blade and Jester.  They had their backs to him and weren't aware that he was awake.  And damned if they weren't _cuddling_.

Six-Shooter just sat and watched that phenomenon.  He had noticed Blade's protectiveness of Jester in the past, but at the time, he'd thought nothing of it: they _all_ felt that way about frail little Jester.  But this was different.  Six-Shooter had a vague memory of something like that from his past, when he had been an American human who had the misfortune of being in Germany at the wrong time.  He had done that with. . . someone, hadn't he?  The cowboy puppet shook his head in frustration.  Trying to remember his human life was useless.

Nevertheless, Blade and Jester were certainly acting like humans, carrying on like that.  It made Six-Shooter a little grumpy for a reason he couldn't quite fathom.  As he watched, Blade sort of nuzzled Jester's neck-- then looked straight at Six-Shooter.  The pale puppet's mouth opened in surprise to find that he was being watched.  Six-Shooter looked away in embarrassment and pretended to be examining one of his guns.

When he looked up again, Blade had gotten up and put his hat back on.  He walked over to where Pinhead was still asleep and nudged him.  As Pinhead sat up, rubbing his face sleepily, Blade pointed at the trunk with a hiss.  Pinhead nodded and got to his feet.  The large puppet gently shook Tunneler and Leech Woman awake, then trudged over to the trunk.  The others gathered around, eager for their allotted dose of the serum.  Blade prodded Six-Shooter with his hook; when the cowboy looked at him, Blade made a hissing noise and shook his head.

He was saying, _Don't tell anybody._

Six-Shooter nodded.  He hadn't planned on it anyway, but he still felt irked.  As his turn came to receive the serum and Pinhead pierced his chest with the sharp needle, Six-Shooter realized why.  He wanted someone to hold too.

\---

to be continued


	3. Chapter 3

After the puppets had fed-- a small dose of serum to be sure, but they had to ration what they had left-- they sat in a circle behind their trunk and tried to form a plan.  Through what gestures and noises they could make, they agreed that they would need a human's help to get back to Bodega Bay.  Jane was the obvious choice.  She truly cared about them and not the power she could gain from using them, and they knew they could trust her.  But as Blade pointed out, there were two factors they had to consider: Jane might not be able to help them if she were involved with the police. . . and if she considered them the cause of what had happened to Robert and her father, she might not _want_ to help them.

Pinhead protested loudly at this.  To him, Jane could do no wrong, and she would never turn against them.  No matter how gently Blade tried to explain to him that she might not understand what had occurred, Pinhead refused to consider that she wouldn't help.  He was, however, greatly concerned that Jane might be in trouble.

The large, ungainly puppet stood and pointed in the general direction from which they had come, grunting softly.  He wanted to go back to the house and check on the girl, but Blade refused.  It was too soon, and the police would still be there.  It took all of Leech Woman and Tunneler's persuasive efforts to convince Pinhead to wait until nightfall.  Finally, Pinhead agreed to wait after Blade promised to accompany him as soon as the sun set.

The other puppets spent the rest of the day patching and securing their trunk as best they could, while Pinhead and Blade slept again to rest up for the night's journey.  Once dusk fell, the two set out for the house amidst pleas from their friends to take care.  Six-Shooter groaned and folded his arms petulantly; he thought going back to the place of their imprisonment was madness, particularly with Pinhead and Blade making the journey.  Pinhead after all had no weapons other than his large hands, and he wasn't, as Six Shooter put it, the sharpest crayon in the box.  And Blade was their leader-- what if something happened to him?  Despite the cowboy's protests, Blade and Pinhead left while Tunneler fumed at Six-Shooter for his insult to Pinhead's intelligence.  Leech Woman tried to explain to Six-Shooter that Pinhead, being Jane's favorite, was the puppet most likely to get her to help them.  In all the chaos, no one noticed Jester slip away and run after Blade and Pinhead.

He managed to catch up to them before they got very far, and he tugged on Blade's sleeve.  When Blade turned to him, surprised, Jester gave a pleading coo and pointed the direction in which they were headed, asking to come too.  Pinhead scratched his head and looked at Blade, but the pale puppet shook his head firmly.  It was too dangerous for frail Jester to make the trip to the house and back.  And besides, what good would it do for him to go with them?

Jester threw his arms around Blade with a despairing wail.  Pinhead scuffed his foot against the ground impatiently, wanting to get to Jane as quickly as possible.  Embarrassed, Blade patted Jester on the back with the flat of his knife, then firmly detached himself from the smaller puppet and pointed back to the trunk.  Jester's shoulders sank and his face wore its sad expression as he turned and trudged back to the others.  Pinhead looked at Blade curiously, but the pale puppet only started again towards Jane's house.

Blade felt bad for turning Jester away, but it _was_ for his own good.  What if the police were still at Jane's house and they captured the puppets as "evidence"?  Or worse, what if Jane _did_ blame them for her father's death, and she tried to hurt them?  No, it was safer for Jester to remain behind with the others.  Blade just hoped Jester understood.

He and Pinhead reached the house much faster than they had escaped from it, now that they didn't have the trunk and weaker puppets to slow them down.  Blade stopped about a hundred yards away under the cover of some brush to get a feel for the situation.  The house was dark except for Jane's suite, where it appeared she had a light burning from behind her curtains.  There were no cars in the drive save for the McGrews' old truck.  Blade looked at Pinhead and nodded; it was as safe as they could hope for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This short chapter was the last of what I had written. I had intended for Blade and Pinhead to return to Jane, who understands what they'd had to do and forgives them. They ask for her help in getting back to Bodega Bay; however, Jane can't leave the area until the investigation of the murders is over, due to police orders. Since she can't go herself, she calls on the girl band from _Blood Dolls_ , whom she knew at college, and asks them to take all the puppets home - knowing that she can trust the girls since they have living dolls of their own. The band comes to pick up the puppets and bring the dolls along, which is how Six-Shooter meets and falls for Miss Fortune. The puppets leave Tank behind to watch over Jane, and the band, puppets, and dolls start out for Bodega Bay.
> 
> Anyone who wants to continue this story is welcome to follow that plot line, or to invent their own.


End file.
